OT Larry Brown says UK is an NBA playoff team

Submitted by poseidon7902 on

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/_/id/1…

 

Earlier in the season (Think pre-season) Briggs said the same thing and Calipari squashed it saying UK would get burried by any NBA team.  

 

UK would be lucky to win 5 games in the NBA.  I get that they are dominant at college, but the NBA is a different game.  I'm not a fan of the NBA and still feel that there isn't a single team or all star team from the NCAA that could hang in the NBA enough to make the playoffs.  Maybe beat the sixers consistently, but not win enough to even be in the talks for the playoffs.  

BlueLikeJazz

March 19th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^

But for all the talk of "X team has this many draft picks, UK only has this many", the real issue is age and body development.

Think of yourself at 19-20, then think of yourself at 25-26.  Unless you were a total slob, you were probably a bit stronger, maybe faster, etc.  Now imagine you spent all of your time from 20 to 26 training your body to be stronger and faster, and developing your skills.

The biggest difference to me isn't talent, it's age and development.  I mean, a team full of 18 year old LeBrons wouldn't beat most current NBA teams consistently.  There's a reason most players take a few years to really blossom.

SFBlue

March 19th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^

Replace "lottery" for "playoff," and pretty much, yeah.

They are, taken on the whole, a lot better than other college teams. Duke's backcourt is about as good, perhaps better, but UK is deeper and bigger. I would take Boston, Miami, or Indiana over UK's team (it's a non-starter to compare UK to the West fringe playoff teams). Those are teams full of former college prospects (Sullinger, David West, Deng, Olynyk) and established pros (Stuckey, Hibbert, Wade, Bosh, Isiah Thomas). The difference is that the NBA guys have had years to develop their games. Even if you go down to Charlotte, I am going with the NBA team. Kidd-Gilchrist was the No. 2 guy in the '12 draft, and he is not a star yet; he has a few years on the Harrisons, and I predict he would own the Harrisons and Booker.